We’ve veered away from Africa momentarily to pick up one of the countries we missed earlier: Palestine. A return to the Middle East was exciting for Miranda in particular who loves Middle Eastern food, but as Ash pointed out, not all of the Middle Eastern dishes we’ve made so far have been amazing. What would this one be like?
Palestine’s national dish doesn’t appear to be set in stone, with some sources claiming it’s musakhan and others pushing for maqluba. We opted for the former and found a recipe published on The Happy Foodie from Sami Tamim’s Falastin cookbook.
Musakhan
Ingredients
1 chicken (about 1.7kg), divided into 4 pieces, skin on
120ml olive oil, plus 2-3 tbsp extra, to finish
1 tbsp ground cumin
3 tbsp sumac
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
30g pine nuts
500g red onions, sliced 2-3mm thick
4 flatbreads (traditionally taboon breads if you can get them)
5g parsley leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper
Greek yoghurt, to serve
1 lemon, quartered, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Place the chicken in a large mixing bowl with 2 tbsp oil, 1 tsp cumin, 1 1/2 tsp sumac, the cinnamon, the allspice, 1 tsp salt and a good grind of black pepper. Mix well to combine, then spread out on a parchment-lined baking tray.
3, Roast until the chicken is cooked through (up to 45 minutes – use a meat thermometer to check), then remove from the oven and set aside, reserving any tray juices.
4. Meanwhile, put 2 tbsp oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until golden brown. Transfer to a bowl lined with kitchen paper, leaving the oil in the pan.
5. Add the remaining 60 ml of oil to the pan, along with the onions and 3/4 tsp salt. Return to a medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the onions are completely soft and pale golden but not caramelised.
6. Add 2 tbsp sumac, the remaining 2 tsp of cumin and a grind of black pepper and mix through, until the onions are completely coated. Remove from the heat and set aside.
7. When ready to assemble, set the oven to a grill setting and slice or tear the bread into quarters or sixths (although we didn’t do this; we kept ours whole). Place them under the grill for 2-3 minutes, to crisp up, then arrange on a large platter.
8. Top the bread with half the onions, all the chicken (either as is or roughly shredded) and any chicken juices from the tray.
9. Spoon the remaining onions over the top and sprinkle with the pine nuts, parsley, remaining 1 1/2 tsp sumac and a final drizzle of olive oil. Serve with the yoghurt and a wedge of lemon alongside.
Serves 4
The bread makes all the difference with this dish, we feel. We’re lucky that an Afghan bakery has just opened about 30 seconds’ walk from our front door and they make fresh naan breads while you wait. Had we used the Tesco flatbreads that were our alternative, we probably wouldn’t have loved this quite as much as we did. And we did love it! It’s the best ‘blog meal’ we’ve had in ages, and we’ve made some pretty good ones recently. The chicken was melt-in-the-mouth succulent (thanks in part to our Meater thermometer no doubt – not an ad, we just love it) and the spice blend was not only one of the easiest we’ve made in a while but also one of the tastiest. If this is what recipes from Falastin are like, we’d like a copy of the book… any of our fans feeling generous?
As for the kids, well, Preschooler Mash ate a lot of bread and very little else, whilst Baby Mash ate pretty much a whole head of broccoli and very little else. Still, we liked it enough that we’ll certainly be making it again, so hopefully they are a bit more willing to try it next time.
Expect to see posts coming thick and fast from us over the coming months, as we’ve realised that we have 24 countries to cover in the four months until we leave the country – eek.
Good Food on Bad Plates 